Nothing Happens By Chance E-Book

Vanessa Lafleur

• Herausgeber: BQB Publishing
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Everything’s about to change. Charlie navigates between working for The Defiance and preventing them from accessing dangerous research. Rochelle struggles to adjust to life in New York while helping the TCI defeat the Defiance. (Book 4)

Leseprobe

Nothing Happens by Chance

© 2023 Vanessa Lafleur. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopying, or recording, except for the inclusion in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products pf the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Published in the United States by BQB Publishing

(an imprint of Boutique of Quality Books Publishing, Inc.)

www.bqbpublishing.com

979-8-88633-011-3 (p)

979-8-88633-012-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023941839

Book design by Robin Krauss, www.bookformatters.com

Cover design by Rebecca Lown, www.rebeccalowndesigns.com

First editor: Andrea Vande Vorde

Second editor: Allison Itterly

For my dad, who taught me to love stories and write for fun.

CONTENTS

PART 1 LIFE AWAY FROM HOME

CHAPTER 1 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 2 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 3 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 4 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 5 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 6 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 7 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 8 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 9 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 10 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 11 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 12 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 13 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 14 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 15 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 16 CHARLIE

PART 2 TROUBLE AROUND EVERY CORNER

CHAPTER 17 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 18 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 19 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 20 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 21 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 22 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 23 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 24 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 25 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 26 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 27 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 28 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 29 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 30 ROCHELLE

CHAPTER 31 CHARLIE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PART 1

LIFE AWAY FROM HOME

CHAPTER 1

ROCHELLE

March 28, 2091

Feet sliding over a thick mat of damp leaves, I raced down a narrow trail surrounded by bare trees. Glancing over my shoulder, I expected to see at least two people catching up, but I was alone in a world of silent gray mist. To my left, the abandoned hospital building appeared in a clearing. Evie said that it had once been a place of comfort for patients with terminal illnesses, but it closed fifty years ago due to financial problems. Everyone at the Advanced Education Institute said it was haunted, but it didn’t look scary to me. Just lonely and lost in the woods.

Slowing to a jog, I pressed my hand to the left side of my head. “Max? Any advice?”

The little speaker I clipped over my ear to communicate with Max during our practice missions had been the subject of my most recent letter to Todd. Todd wasn’t surprised Max and I could communicate effectively—all three of us had been best friends since kindergarten—but he did think it was a bad idea to put Max’s crazy ideas in my head, to make every moment an adventure. He decided not to warn the TCI though. According to Todd, if the Threat Collection Initiative found out what trouble Max and I could cause, they would send us home for sure. Despite writing to Todd every day, I missed hearing his voice and the comfort of holding his hand.

“You’re almost to your retrieval point and way ahead of everyone else according to their coordinates,” Max said, his voice echoing in my ear. I imagined him sitting at his computer, watching twelve dots slide across the screen. “Stay on course, and if you’re willing to take a detour, we’ll get an A for sure.”

“I’m in.” I glanced down at my khaki uniform pants, already splattered with mud. Although Max’s detours were always messy, he knew what he was talking about, and my aunt Audrie and her work partner, Sid Dotson, were proud of us every time we succeeded at our skills training test. They led our skills training every afternoon.

“Take a left in three, two, now.”

Following Max’s directions, I veered off the trail and picked up speed despite the slick leaves beneath my running shoes. Eleven of my classmates had left from the same starting point, taking directions from a partner to retrieve their colored ribbon and return to the starting point as quickly as possible. It was a test of endurance, communication, and cooperation.

“There’s a clearing ahead. Two of the others are close to their retrieval points, but you’ll get to ours first.” Max’s voice kept me focused as I plunged forward, ignoring the icy burn of late-winter air in my lungs. The trees gave way to the gray sky above, and I spotted my green ribbon hanging overhead at the end of a sturdy branch.

I couldn’t jump high enough to reach the branch because the trunk was too thick to shimmy up, and there were no lower branches to boost myself up.

“Why did you stop?” Max’s voice startled me.

“I can’t reach it.”

“There’s no problem we can’t solve.” Max’s confidence had become an unstoppable force. “What do you have that you can use?”

“I have an idea.” Pulling off my jacket, I swung one sleeve over the branch and caught the other one as it came over the side. Gripping the sleeves, I pulled myself up, wrapped my legs around the branch, then my arms, and grabbed the ribbon.

“Got it!” I dropped from the tree, pulled on my jacket, and dashed back into the blur of trees.

“You’re more than halfway through the mission now,” Max encouraged. “Stay on course until you see a culvert. Climbing the hill to the road will add at least a minute to your time, so I recommend going under it.”

“Is an extra minute really going to kill us?” My eyes watered from the cold wind, but I could still see the thick slush in the ditch ahead. “Didn’t you say we’re ahead of the others?”

“Forget about the others. We’re in a race with ourselves, and we’re about to beat our record time.”

“Fine. But you owe me.” I shoved the ribbon into my pocket, then dropped to the ground and used my elbows to propel myself forward through the drainage tunnel. Seconds of icy misery brought me to the other side. Recognizing the gravel road that would lead me back to my starting point, I sprinted for the finish line.

“Almost there,” Max cheered. “A few more feet. You’re doing great.”

Through the hazy mist, I could make out the shape of the picnic shelter, scattered with tables where Max and our classmates sat in front of computers, guiding their partners through the mission we’d been assigned. I raised the ribbon into the air and jogged between a trash can and folding chair, our makeshift finish line.

Max scrambled to his feet, hands in the air, and ran toward me, abandoning the laptop in front of him. “That was amazing. You beat our old time by a minute and nine seconds. Rochelle Aumont and Max Delgado. The best future spies the TCI has ever trained.”

I pressed my hands to the top of my head, elbows pointed out, and took deep gulps of cold air. The unrelenting winter wind sliced through my wet clothes, and I shivered.

“Great work, guys.” Audrie jogged over from the shelter where the others were still focused on their task. “You two are officially the most successful partnership I’ve ever coached.”

“We’ve had years of practice.” Max flung his arm around me, and I was grateful for the warmth that radiated from him. “The neat gadgets are helpful too.”

Audrie smiled. “If I remember correctly, I owe you a happy birthday, Rochelle. We’ll celebrate this weekend when you come to stay with me.” My aunt sometimes took me off campus to stay with her for the weekend.

I looked at Max. Even though he’d made more friends here than I had, I still felt bad about leaving him all weekend again.

“Don’t worry about me, Rochelle.” Max gave a thumbs-up to some of his friends who were just crossing the finish line. “Just bring me a cupcake or three.”

Audrie laughed. “After church on Sunday, the three of us will go out for brunch and stop at my favorite bakery. You guys can pick out whatever you want.”

Max grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

“Nice job, guys,” Audrie shouted over her shoulder as a pack of teenagers carrying an assortment of colored ribbons jogged across the finish line, panting and coughing. “Get a drink, and we’ll critique your performances inside.” She turned back to us. “You two are dismissed for the day. I have no critiques. Good luck with the rest of your midterms.” She smiled as she headed back toward the picnic shelter.

Some of the others gave Max and me dirty looks as they passed us to get to their water bottles. Most of them didn’t like us because they thought we got special treatment. They weren’t wrong. While all the other kids had to pass rigorous tests to get into the Advanced Education Institute, Audrie had pulled some strings to get us admitted.

“Let’s get out of here.” Max slung his bag over one shoulder and mine over the other, and then we fell into step together as we made our way across campus to the dormitories.

It was hard to believe we’d already been at the AEI for three months. While we were only juniors in high school, the advanced classes made it feel more like college. We stopped at the big mailbox in front of the library. I pulled out my daily letter to Todd from my bookbag and dropped it into the slot, listening to it flutter against the other mail inside.

“Don’t you ever run out of things to write to him?” Max readjusted the bags. “I can barely come up with enough to tell my family during my Sunday phone call. All we do here is study.”

“I tell him about what we’re learning in class, what we eat for lunch, what all of the buildings look like.” I shrugged. “He doesn’t think it’s boring.”

I felt bad for writing to Todd every day and my cousin, Kinley, only twice a week, but I always saved my Sunday phone call for her. I worried about Kinley being alone in Maibe, and hearing her voice always made me feel better. Todd gave me updates on what he heard from his sister Emma, Kinley’s best friend. From Todd’s letters, I concluded that Kinley was working too much.

“Three months ago, I thought spy school would be all about going on undercover missions. You know, exciting stuff,” Max said as we continued down the sidewalk. “But I guess this isn’t so bad.”

“I’ve already failed my mission.” I lowered my voice despite the deserted sidewalks. “Even with Audrie’s help, I haven’t been able to figure out the passcodes.”

My aunt’s main reason for bringing me to New York was to find the three words my dad had chosen to use as passcodes to access important research. Sometimes I wondered how things would have turned out if my dad had never gotten mixed up in his best friend’s scientific experiment. Eric Bennett and the five other scientists had been conducting research to create a vaccine that would protect the world against all viruses, but in the process discovered a way to increase the severity of common viruses. If they all had known how to handle the research, maybe none of us would have been involved in this pendant business and maybe my dad would still be alive.

“I don’t know why they’re so worried about the passcodes anyway,” Max said. “The passcodes don’t even matter until the TCI has all eight pendants to make the key. No one even knows where the research is yet. Right?”

“Probably. I’m just tired of Molly always being one step ahead of everyone. And it’s even worse now that she’s with the Defiance.” My stomach twisted into a knot. Molly Bennett. Last year, our friendship changed forever when she told me about our dads’ involvement with the pendants. I’d refused to join the Defiance with her, and now she was hurting my friends and family to get to me.

“The TCI won’t let the Defiance win the race to the research.” Max turned to me and winked. “Plus, Keppler is probably sabotaging the Defiance from the inside right now.”

My thoughts drifted to our friend. At first we were frustrated that he didn’t tell us about signing an agreement with Audrie to go back to the Defiance working undercover. But there were bigger things to worry about. I wanted to believe he could handle himself with the ruthless gang that was waging war across the country. He wasn’t like them, and I didn’t know how long he could pretend.

“I just hope he’s safe,” I said. “I’m sure he has everything under control.” Max laughed. “He probably misses us so much he’ll let us call him by his first name when he gets out of the Defiance again.”

“I don’t know.” I laughed. “It would be weird to call him Charlie. It would be weird if he called me Rochelle instead of Aumont.”

“That’s what’s happening in another dimension right now.” Max raised his eyebrows and twisted his mouth into an expression of awe that made me laugh.

We reached my building. I stopped right inside the door and unlocked my mail compartment. I pulled out a manilla envelope from Todd, a regular envelope from Kinley, and another from Emma and Todd’s other sister, Lily. My hand reached all the way to the back of the little square space, but it was empty.

“Still nothing from Kat? Even on your birthday?” Max handed me my bag. “That’s pretty rotten of her. Just wait until the next time I see her.”

“I guess she’s still mad.” I looked at the letters in my hand. “I’ll just keep writing to her until she forgives me.” I’d promised my sister I would never go with Audrie. Now I was in New York and Kat was in Omaha, and our family had been torn apart. It had all gotten out of my control.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about any of this on your birthday.” Max grinned. “If the dining hall doesn’t have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, I have a toaster and a hot plate in my room.”

I smiled and shook my head. “You know you’re not allowed to have either of those things.”

Max looped his arm through mine and guided me down the hallway toward the stairwell. “None of it is mine. My former roommates left it behind, so I can’t throw it away.” He’d had three roommates in the last three months. Two of them couldn’t take the pressure and quit, and one got kicked out for not following the rules. “After that, I can sneak off campus and get us some ice cream.”

“We can’t leave,” I yanked Max to a stop. “They can track your phone.” Our flip phones issued to us by the TCI were only used to contact our teachers and classmates on campus. They also used our devices to track us and make sure we didn’t leave when we weren’t supposed to.

“They can’t track mine.” Max laughed. “They brought me here because I know how to make trackers, and they don’t think I can disable their tracking on my phone? This is spy school. They expect us to do things like that.”

I sighed. “All I want for my birthday is to hang out like we used to.” Aside from our morning three-mile run and our history class, I barely saw Max. He was usually playing Ping-Pong with his friends from Sid’s workshop. “I could really use some help with my precalculus homework. Can’t we just get something to eat and then go to the library?”

“It’s your birthday.” Max shrugged. “If you want to study, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you.” I swung my bag over my shoulder. “But first I need to shower. I’ll call you when I’m ready.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you all the way?” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Your bag is pretty heavy.”

“I’ll be fine.” I sighed. “And I’m sure Evie is still in class.” My roommate was the only person I’d ever met who was as smart as Max, and they had most of their classes together.

He blushed and looked down at his shoes. “Right. Maybe you should invite her to study with us later. You know, because it’s the polite thing to do. And she’s so smart and pretty.”

“I’ll ask her.” I patted Max’s shoulder.

“Great.” Max forced a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

We parted ways at the end of the hall, with Max turning back to the front entrance and me ascending the stairs to the third floor. The locked door indicated, as I had expected, that Evie hadn’t returned from her midterm yet. She was a great roommate and the only friend I’d made since Audrie moved me to New York, but I was thankful for a few minutes alone.

Inside, I removed my muddy shoes at the door and tossed my mail onto the desk by the window before peeling off my filthy windbreaker. I threw it in the bathroom hamper along with my wet and dirty clothes, took a quick shower, and dressed in my warmest pair of sweatpants and my favorite sweatshirt from home. I unzipped the front pocket of my bookbag and pulled out the hummingbird charm bracelet I’d placed there before skills class. It was the last gift my dad had ever given me. It brought me the comfort I needed while living away from home. It had been almost two years since he died.

I fastened the bracelet around my left wrist, sat down at my desk, and opened my mail.

The first card was from Todd’s sisters, Emma and Lily. They wished me a happy birthday, told me they missed me, and said they always looked forward to my letters. Kinley’s card said she couldn’t believe I had turned seventeen, that she missed me more than she could explain in writing, and she would buy me any present I wanted when I came home. She was really busy with her classes and had taken on extra hours working at the hospital.

Todd wrote a long letter about the snowfall in Maibe, working with his dad, his college calculus and drawing classes, and his excitement for spring weather. He’d sent me a sketch of my house surrounded by snowy scenery, and a necklace with a green gem on a gold chain.

Taking a deep breath to fight back a wave of homesickness, I walked to the mirror and clipped the necklace around my neck. It sparkled in the light, the same shade of green as my eyes. The same color as my dad’s, and Kinley’s, and Audrie’s. My brown hair, still wet, hung over my shoulders. It was longer than I usually wore it, but I didn’t have time for a haircut. The baggy clothes I’d chosen hid my slender figure, which was a family trait as strong as the green eyes. For a moment, I was overcome with a surreal disbelief that I could look so much like myself so far away from the people and the place that made me who I was. As much as I wanted to believe life at the AEI was an adventure and the key to my future, I missed Todd, I missed my family, and I wanted to go home.

CHAPTER 2

CHARLIE

March 30, 2091

The sidewalks between the Defiance building and my usual coffee shop bustled with people on their way to work. I walked carefully over the slushy sidewalks, pulling my hood up against the giant snowflakes that melted as they fell. It was just before eight in the morning and everyone was in a hurry, but when they saw the black D on the sleeve of my gray jacket, they slowed down and stepped aside to avoid brushing shoulders with me. Griff Spencer considered it an act of respect, but I knew they feared the consequences of catching one of us in a bad mood.

I didn’t like having the D branded on my arm. After all, it almost got me reported to the authorities. Instead Audrie made me sign the agreement to work undercover. At least now that I was on the inside, I could make sure the Defiance stayed away from Rochelle, Kat, and Kinley.

I crossed the street and darted under the awning of the nearest coffee shop. The bell on the door dinged as I entered the warmth of the little room. Customers occupied every one of the few tables inside. They diverted their eyes but watched me through their peripheral vision. I pretended not to notice.

For a second, I closed my eyes and let the comfort of warmth and aroma of coffee carry me back to the Aumonts’ kitchen. Usually, I tried to push Maibe out of my mind, but sometimes, on a bad day, I let myself remember home for just a minute. Although Kansas City was only three hours away from Maibe, Nebraska, I might as well have been on another planet. But if I ever went back, it wouldn’t be the same. After the Aumonts saw me working with Molly three months ago, they probably thought I was a traitor.

I stepped up to the counter and showed the barista the D on my jacket. It was how members of the Defiance got out of paying.

“What can I get for you, Mr. Keppler?” asked Bridget, the girl with long blonde hair who always took my order.

“The usual times two.”

Every morning, I ordered a large coffee and a doughnut. But it was Friday, the day of our weekly strategy planning meetings, so I ordered the same for Griff. He wasn’t good with mornings.

“Here you go, Mr. Keppler.” Bridget slid my order across the counter. “Have a good day.”

“Thank you.” I picked up the coffee tray and made my way to the door.

The customers watched me with the usual mix of fear and curiosity. They knew that as long as they didn’t break the rules, they were safe. They weren’t affected by the rationing of food or shortages of medical supplies like everyone outside Defiance territory. It had been like this since January, when the war began. Ten years ago, no one would have predicted a disgruntled group of teenagers could wage a war against the country, and succeed. The treatment of orphaned and abandoned children had already been a problem, but the fever had made it worse. It killed half of the adult population, and it was still ongoing. Now the streets were full of orphaned and abandoned kids.

Hurrying back through the slushy rain, I entered the main Defiance building and jogged down the hall to Griff’s office. The door was open and, to my surprise, he was sitting at his desk. He had showered and changed, but he sat with his eyes closed and forehead in his hand.

I cleared my throat as I entered, and he slowly lifted his face. “And I thought I’d have to drag you out of bed.” I placed breakfast on his desk and pulled up a chair.

“I’m surprised I woke up in my bed.” Squinting, he picked up his coffee and took a sip.

“You’re lucky I came looking for you,” I said. “Otherwise, you would have woken up in an alley with frostbite. Maybe you should cut back on the drinking for a while.”

Despite everything, I still felt loyal to Griff. We were practically brothers. After all, he’d been the only one who helped me when I was just a kid trying to survive the streets. He promised the Defiance would create a brighter future for the generation of children the world had left behind. At least, that’s what I told myself, and potential recruits who read my newsletters. It was easier to believe the civilians of our territories were grateful for our presence than to see myself as one of the monsters taking their freedom.

“Come on, Charlie,” Griff said. “We deserve to have some fun. This is a high-pressure job.” He slammed his coffee down on the desk. “Lighten up. You even spent your birthday alone in a room, typing.”

“I’m trying to help people. Quality newsletters mean kids like us know they have options.”

I held the warm coffee in my hands. “You know I don’t drink, and I don’t care about my birthday.”

“It’s never too late to start.” He took a bite of his doughnut. “Having a little fun isn’t going to turn you into your dad.”

“I’m sure he never thought a little fun would turn him into an abusive alcoholic either.”

I stood and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass of Griff’s display case. My dark hair was long enough to curl over my ears and cover half my forehead. My Defiance jacket hung from my shoulders since they weren’t broad enough to fill it out. Despite my glasses, I still looked more like my dad than I wanted to, but his weaknesses would never be mine.

“Plus one of us has to be coherent enough to keep things running and keep you from freezing to death because you couldn’t make it home,” I added. “Isn’t that why you brought me back here?”

“I brought you back here because I missed my brother, and you leaving was a mistake in the first place,” Griff said.

I winced at the memory. Before I found safety with the Aumonts, I’d taken one of Griff’s pendants. He caught me and beat me for it. “A mistake?” I said. “You would have killed me if I hadn’t gotten away.”

“We’ve talked about this. When I found the pendant in your room last year, I jumped to unfair conclusions.” Griff said. “I should have known right away someone had framed you. That’s why I came looking for you. To bring you home. You’re the only guy in the Defiance I consider family.”

I walked to the window and watched snowflakes melt on the glass. Family. I hadn’t known anything about family until I arrived in Maibe. Even though I was a stranger, Kinley treated my injuries the night she met me. A few weeks later, Kinley and her boyfriend, Alexander, cosigned guardianship papers so I wouldn’t be sent to a home for children. They were only nineteen. Even while Alexander was struggling as the youngest mayor of the town and Kinley was trying to raise Rochelle and Kat, they still found time for me. The year I lived in Maibe was the first time in sixteen years people actually cared about me.

“Charlie, I mean it.” Griff shoved his breakfast aside. “You’re my right-hand guy. The only person I can trust completely.”

I turned away from the window. “What’s Molly then?”

“Molly’s my girlfriend. You’re my brother. There’s a difference.” He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Now give me a minute to pull myself together before the meeting. Since you’re here early, you can get everything ready.”

“Whatever.” At least it would give me something to do. It was easier to stay busy than to sit around and think about what I was doing, and what the Aumonts would think about it.

After finishing my breakfast, I set up for the meeting by laying out our maps on the card tables in the corner that served as our conference area. I found the copies of the minutes I’d typed from last week’s meeting strewn on Griff’s file cabinet and placed one in front of each seat at the table.

“Griff, do you have Charlie doing your work for you again?” Molly’s heels clicked across the floor. “I thought you were going to get things ready last night.”

He lifted his head and ran a hand over his hair. “Something came up.”

“I see.” Molly strode over to the table and took her usual seat.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Griff stood and shielded his eyes from the sun streaming through the blinds.

“First of all, you look awful.” She folded her hands on the table. “If you insist on living your life this way, you should at least give me a little more power to make decisions. In case you weren’t here in an emergency. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Of course I trust you.” He smiled. “You look especially pretty today. Is that a new dress?”

Ignoring them, I pulled the notepad and pen from the inside pocket of my jacket. As always, Griff would sidestep Molly’s prompting to give her more power by complimenting her. Molly would roll her eyes and complain that he didn’t treat her like a true partner.

The first of Griff’s regional representatives showed up and, predictably, Molly and Griff stopped arguing. Once all five representatives had arrived, I listened to reports of our successes in pushing our borders deeper into the southeast, and north into the Midwest. I provided a synopsis of the information in my most recent newsletter, as well as my plans for upcoming issues.

I took notes just like I used to do at the town council meetings in Maibe. Working for Griff was different from working with Alexander. While they both wanted to make the world better, Griff believed true change couldn’t come in a peaceful way whereas Alexander envisioned change through cooperation. I wanted Alexander to be right, but I couldn’t deny that we street kids would never have a place in the world if we didn’t make it our own.

After an hour, the representatives left one by one until only Griff, Molly, and I remained.

Griff surveyed the dots we’d stuck to the maps. “Can you believe it, Charlie? We have control of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The states around them are going to fall like dominoes in a matter of weeks, and once we cut off the east from the west and fully disrupt the supply chain, all the rest will fold. Even a year ago it never seemed possible. I should have had you writing your newsletters from the start.”

I nodded. All I’d ever wanted was for my writing to be recognized, but the thought that it was fueling a war kept me up at night.

Griff clapped my shoulder. “Now that the truth precedes us, we’ll win this war by the end of the year.”

“We could win it sooner if we could just find the rest of the pendants and get that research.” Molly sighed and shook her head. “That’s our guarantee. Not Charlie’s writing.”

“I’m working on that.” Griff walked to his desk. “I have some leads on the whereabouts of Brandon Davis.”

Brandon Davis was the only scientist on the research team who was still alive. That meant he was Griff’s best hope for getting his hands on another pendant. Each pendant was printed with a different word: Spero. Optimus. Instruo. Pessimus. Tomorrow. Will. Be. Better. The pendants had been divided among the six scientists, plus Rochelle’s dad, although it wasn’t clear which pendant belonged to which person.

“You’re not working fast enough,” Molly snapped. “I only brought you my dad’s pendant because we agreed on what we should use them for.”

Griff nodded. “Use them to unlock the research, develop a vaccine for anyone on our side, and unleash a super virus on everyone else. That’s still the plan, but we only have four of the pendants.”

Molly glared at Griff. “Then do something about it.”

“I will. I will. Once my leads come together, Charlie and I will take a road trip to follow up,” Griff continued. “With any luck, we’ll have some good news on the pendant front soon.”

“Until then, I have my own leads to follow up on.” Molly stood and flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. I knew she had learned Rochelle wasn’t in Maibe anymore and wanted to find out where she went. I pretended to know nothing about the Aumonts, which wasn’t far from the truth. “I’ll see you guys for lunch.”

Griff confirmed our lunch plans with Molly while I rolled the maps and slid them into cardboard tubes.

“Let’s go to the gym,” he suggested after Molly left. “I need to get out of this place. Get my mind off this war.”

“Last year I couldn’t get you to stop working.” I turned to Griff. “Now an hour a day is too much. What’s going on with you?” Part of me hoped the war and senseless loss of life was getting to him. I wanted him to show me he was human for just a minute.

He rubbed his hands over his face and looked at me as if he were a little boy lost in the park. “What if I can’t find the rest of the pendants? What if I never get the research?”

If I accomplished my mission, that was exactly what would happen. “What do you need it for? The Defiance is taking over the country without any of that anyway.”

“For now, kid. For now, everyone is so desperate for a change they’ll listen to my promises of hope. Everyone is so afraid of the unknown, so they fear the Defiance. But the day will come when I’ll have to make good on that promise of hope, and I’ll have to keep raising the bar to scare those who oppose us. I need the research, a vaccine for our followers, and a virus for our enemies.”

I walked over to him. “You created the Defiance before you knew anything about the pendants. The only promise of hope any of us ever needed was to have a family. And the only thing we need to be afraid of is what the world will do to us if we don’t have one.” I’d been writing plenty of terrifying stories about the street kids’ experiences that made me question how I’d survived before Griff pulled me into the Defiance.

“That’s not how it works in the history books.” He shook his head. “Just when a guy has everything going for him, it all turns the other way.”

“History books?” I sat down across from his desk. “Since when do you read history books?”

He shrugged. “Molly says we don’t live long enough to learn from our own lives, so the only way to succeed is to learn from the past.”

I didn’t want to encourage Griff, but I also couldn’t stand to see Molly succeed at manipulating him. Before she showed up, he had been the one assuring me that he had a solution for every problem. But after three months with Molly, he was second-guessing everything he’d ever done.

“What does Molly know? She’s been here a few months. We’ve been here since the beginning, and we’re accomplishing your goal. Thousands of kids are joining us every week.”

“What would I do without you?” Griff punched my arm so hard it hurt. “Go get ready for the gym. One of these days, you’ll get some muscle on you.”

I left the room, remembering my initial warning to Griff about Molly. She’ll stab you in the back. He couldn’t see her manipulation, but I could. What I didn’t know was exactly what she planned to accomplish.

CHAPTER 3

ROCHELLE

March 30, 2091

“They could keep it down over there.” Evie slid her physics book closer to herself. “Everyone knows you’re supposed to be quiet in a library.”

“Who?” I looked up from the equation I’d been staring at, realized I’d been fidgeting with my new necklace, and let it fall against my sweater. My mind had been flitting between missing home and the birthday weekend I would spend with Audrie. She was coming to pick me up as soon as she finished her meeting in the administration building.

Evie pointed over the half-height bookshelves to the line of tables on the other side of the big room where Max and his friends laughed and tossed a baseball from one end of the table to the other. She shook her bangs out of her eyes and pulled her long black hair into a ponytail. “What makes them think they can do whatever they want?”

Thunder rumbled outside and rain pelted the row of windows near our table. The weather had driven more people than usual to our quiet study space.

“I can go tell Max to keep it down.” The last thing I needed was for him to get into trouble. I didn’t want him to be sent to the reform school. But Max was Max.

“Don’t bother,” Evie sighed. “He shouldn’t be your responsibility.”